Chapter 4
Our child.
Nathan understood language.
If he repeated those words enough, the scandal stopped being about fraudulent governance and became a story about a bitter ex-fiancée attacking a baby.
Laya spoke next.
“Miles is innocent. Whatever mistakes adults made, Nathan chose to be his father.”
For the first time, I agreed with her.
Miles was innocent.
And I had turned the facts of his birth into a wedding spectacle.
Both things could be true.
Nathan could have committed fraud.
And I could have chosen a better room.
The board placed me on paid administrative leave while outside counsel reviewed how I obtained the paternity report.
Nathan lost access to voting authority, but I lost access to the company I had spent nine years building.
For three days, I did almost nothing.
I slept on my couch.
I ignored reporters.
I ate cereal from a mixing bowl.
On the fourth morning, Marcus appeared at my door carrying two breakfast sandwiches and an accordion folder.
“If those are legal documents, leave.”
“One is bacon.”
“And the folder?”
“Unfortunately, also documents.”
I let him inside.
Marcus placed the folder on my coffee table.
“Nathan petitioned the trust court last night.”
“For what?”
“He wants his acknowledgment of Miles recognized regardless of biological paternity.”
“Can he win?”
“He might.”
I stared at him.
Marcus opened the file.
“Being a legal father is not fraud. Signing a birth certificate for a child you intend to raise is not automatically fraud. His problem is the trust application.”
“He lied.”
“He checked a box saying he knew of no competing paternity claim.”
“He knew Theo was the biological father.”
“We need to prove when he knew.”
“Laya knows.”
“She has her own attorney.”
“Theo?”
“Criminal counsel. He suddenly discovered silence.”
I leaned back.
“Convenient.”
Marcus studied me.
“Now I need an inconvenient answer from you.”
“That sounds threatening.”
“How did you obtain the board agenda proposing your termination?”
I looked away.
“A printer notification.”
“Olivia.”
“It was sent to my department by mistake.”
“And?”
“My operations manager, June, saw my name on the cover sheet.”
“And?”
“I told her to scan the packet.”
Marcus’s expression hardened.
“You directed an employee to copy confidential board material.”
“It proposed firing me.”
“That explains why you did it. It does not make it correct.”
“Nathan cheated on me, married his assistant, used his brother’s child to control the company, and planned to fire me.”